Betsy’s books and journalism

I am writing a nonfiction book, with the working title: Welcome to Diary-land about the value of diaries, to their writers and others. Click here to listen to my interview with Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa program about The Benefits of Keeping a Diary during a pandemic and beyond.
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HOT OFF THE PRESS/WEB:

Here is my  first travel story since the pandemic began: https://www.startribune.com/this-charming-lesser-known-summer-vacation-spot-is-a-michigan-classic/600091440/

This charming, lesser-known summer vacation spot is a Michigan classic The Beulah area captures nostalgia for Michigan’s vacationland. By Betsy Rubiner Special to the Star Tribune

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Betsy Rubiner  is the author of the travel guide, Fun with the Family in Iowa (Globe Pequot Press). Three of her travel stories are included in The New York Times 36 Hours: 150 weekends in the USA & Canada (Taschen,  2nd & 1st editions, 2014 & 2011)

She writes stories and essays on travel, parenting, families and other topics for many publications including: REAL SIMPLE, New York Times,  TIME, Parenting, The Guardian, Rails-to-Trails magazine, FamilyFun, Better Homes & Gardens, Midwest Living,  Delta Sky, Airbnb Magazine, WebMD, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Everyday with Rachael Ray, Heart Healthy Living, Meredith Integrated Marketing and Special Interest Media as well as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Detroit News, Austin Statesman, the Philadelphia Inquirer  and Des Moines Register.  

TakeBetsyWithYou,  her blog since 2009, offers travel thoughts, tips, and tales.

She began her journalism career  in 1981 as a 22-year-old intern for the New York Times London Bureau, where her first story landed on the front page, back in the days when non-staffers didn’t get bylines. (Fortunately she has a rare paper copy in a scrapbook.)

First Story for the New York Times, landed on the front page: July 8, 1981

 New York Times travel stories:

RECENT STORIES:

  • Rails-to-Trails Magazine 2017  cover story  about Iowa’s Raccoon River Valley Trail.  Click here
  • The Guardian  2017 Essay: Here’s the last two grafs, which were cut: For now, we’re in limbo, waiting to see what happens in Washington DC and at the Iowa State Capitol. If, for example, Obamacare is replaced by a law that lets states decide whether health insurers must still cover people with pre-existing conditions and if Iowa lawmakers opt not to make this coverage mandatory, we will leave. I know too well, from pre-Obamacare days, what it’s like to be rejected by insurers because of my bad back. If we leave, do we go to another, more progressive midwestern state? Do I drag my husband east? Or maybe it’s time to try something completely different. California, here we come?

Real Simple Stories:

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Travel story in The Des Moines Register: Iowa farmers’ highlights from trip to sister state Yamanashi  August 2, 2016

MORE Stories for the Minneapolis Star Tribune

2017 travel stories about Iowa’s “Farm Crawl 2017” (Click here.) and Minnesota’s North Shore (Click here)  and the Iowa State Fair (below).

Iowa State Fair has much in common with Minnesota’s

Biking Through Lanesboro on the Root River State Trail

 A Trip to Traverse City, Michigan

Exploring the birthplace of John Wayne in Winterset, Iowa

Midwest Traveler: Get Artsy and Sporty in Iowa City

Iowa City's reborn Hancher Auditorium

Iowa City’s reborn Hancher Auditorium

Weekend away: Farm bounty in southwest Iowa 2013 Click here to read!

Fresh air, exercise and an art bridge 2012 On Iowa’s High Trestle Trail, bikers encounter not only cornfields and cows, but also a striking span over the Des Moines River.

In Iowa, sleeping with Wright 2011, In Mason City, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Historic Park Inn gets a multimillion-dollar face-lift. http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/travel/135314803.html

Delta Sky magazine story: five pdf installments  peru1peru2peru3peru4peru5 (To read, click first on peru1, then on peru2, etc…)

Peru Rising, by Betsy Rubiner, Delta Sky April 2013

 

Story and online video for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

A likely worker shortage sparked by retiring baby-boomers has lit a fire under Des Moines’s civic leaders. The city is working to lure back young Iowans and attracting global talent by developing its downtown and promoting the jobs available in the many industries that flourish there. Other big draws: low-cost housing, plus the city’s long-touted reputation for family-friendliness and a “19-minute commute.”

http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/best-cities-2010-des-moines-iowa.html#ixzz1JXmGrV88

 A selection of Betsy’s stories for TIME and Time.com:

Royals: Will Wills and Kate Make Up for Charles and Di?

By Betsy Rubiner  Apr 20, 2011
A reporter remembers the other wedding from three decades ago and how many women fretted for Diana Spencer. They seem to be rooting for Kate Middleton now

783 words

A Year After the Flood, Cedar Rapids Struggles

By Betsy Rubiner  Jun 17, 2009
Huge amounts of money have been allocated to help victims of last year’s disastrous Iowa floods, but little has been dispersed

Hard Times: From Wall Street to Elm Street

By Betsy Rubiner  Jan 07, 2009

Middle-class America is spooked by all the bad news from the rest of the world. The nightmare is creeping in and places like Des Moines are hunkering down

944 words

Iowa: What Happens When a Town Implodes

By Betsy Rubiner  Jan 28, 2009
Eight months after one of the biggest immigration raids in U.S. history, the town of Postville has yet to recover from the collapse of its biggest employer
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OTHER  STORIES:

A Delta Sky magazine  special section on Iowa, including a story by Betsy on what to see and do; where to eat and stay in Iowa. January 2013: All eyes are on Iowa, where unemployment is low, clean energy innovators are flourishing and a heartland work ethic pervades.